Greatness Rooted in Liberty
18 June 2006
The Editor, The Economist
25 St James's Street
London SW1A 1HG
United Kingdom
SIR:
You say that America's "collective dream" is one "of economic opportunity and upward mobility" ("Inequality and the American Dream," June 17). While Americans generally cherish opportunity and mobility, these are not our collective dream, or at least not the one that forged this nation. Instead, they are its consequences. America's greatness is rooted in liberty. It was liberty - not economic opportunity, upward mobility, or a low Gini coefficient - that America's founders identified as an unalienable right so vital that life without it is not worth living.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
The Editor, The Economist
25 St James's Street
London SW1A 1HG
United Kingdom
SIR:
You say that America's "collective dream" is one "of economic opportunity and upward mobility" ("Inequality and the American Dream," June 17). While Americans generally cherish opportunity and mobility, these are not our collective dream, or at least not the one that forged this nation. Instead, they are its consequences. America's greatness is rooted in liberty. It was liberty - not economic opportunity, upward mobility, or a low Gini coefficient - that America's founders identified as an unalienable right so vital that life without it is not worth living.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Saturday March 31, 2007 at 12:04pm